It is not too often that fledgling theater companies in their intimate stages get featured in the New York Times. When they do, it usually means something. The Fiasco Theater Company is one such theater troupe that caught the attention of the paper, specifically for its critically hailed production of Cymbeline that ran fall from September 18 through October 2 at Access Theater.
The Fiasco Theater Company describes themselves as "a small, not-for-profit theater company in New York City, formed in 2007 by graduates of the Brown University/Trinity Repertory Consortium MFA Acting program. Fiasco produces classical and new work, and offers conservatory-level training to young professional actors in NYC. We believe the performer, the text and the audience are the only elements required to make great theater. And we believe audiences should have access to thrilling theater for low or no cost."
Cymbeline was so successful that it is coming back for a round 2, playing from November 18 - November 22. The production will, once again, star Jessie Austrian, Noah Brody, Paul Coffey, Andy Grotelueschen, Ben Steinfeld, and Emily Young.
In Fiasco Theater's production, according to their website, six actors and one trunk take on 14 roles and innumerable plot twists to create this dynamic, unforgettable, actor-driven, music-filled production. Equal parts fairy tale, gallant history, and The Princess Bride, Cymbeline is one of Shakespeare's great Romances. In Augustan England the princess Imogen has married beneath her. Alone after the banishment of her husband, Imogen is beset by the angered King, her wicked stepmother and her dolt of a son, as well as a blackguard of a Roman who has bet his fortune against her fidelity. Escaping to rugged Wales dressed as a boy, she meets a group of rustics whose fates are locked with hers. And all the while a Roman invasion draws near...
Says company co-founder Noah Brody of the show's success: "We had that moment where we realized the audience had changed from people who had come to see us to support us to people we didn't even know...It was a joyous moment."
To read the full report in the New York Times, click here.
Tickets to the upcoming performances of Cymbeline are $18 and can be purchased through smartix or by calling 212-868-4444. For more information and a complete performance schedule, visit http://main.fiascotheater.com/.
